The Doctor returns
by JennyClaraRiverAmelia
Summary: Set after Death in Heaven, may contain spoilers. My way of dealing with the aftermath of that episode. The Doctor pops into Clara's life unecpectedly, and he has someone with him that will change Clara's life forever.
1. Chapter 1

Clara was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea. It had only been a couple of months since the Doctor left, seemingly for good, and since she said her final goodbye to Danny. Danny, her sweet, wonderful, idiot of a boyfriend, who had a chance of coming back to her, but who instead sent her a lost little boy who she had to take care of. She had managed to find his parents after a while. It took some heavy research, and the poor boy was so frightened when he first crossed over. He did warm up to Clara pretty quick though. When she finally found his parents a month later, and brought him to France where they now lived, it was a tearful and emotional farewell for both of them. Clara felt as though she was losing Danny all over again, in a way. Her very last connection with that wonderful, stupid man. She took a deep, shaky breath.

"I am not doing this. I am not crying", she said to herself. She had managed to not cry as much lately, but it was so difficult when she thought of the fact that he had a chance to come back to her, and he didn't take it. It was his fault that they weren't together.

"Oh, Danny", Clara said in a soft voice, with tears welling up in her eyes. She let out a sob, and bent her head down over her cup of tea, which was getting cold. "You stupid, bloody man!" She picked up the cup and threw in across the room in a fit of rage. The cup shattered against the wall, tea now everywhere. Clara laid her head down on the table, closed her eyes and cried.

"Why didn't you come back to me", she said between sobs. "I... love you... so much."

Suddenly Clara heard a sound she thought she would never hear again. She sat up straight, hands flat on the table and ears on alert. Yes, it was definitely him. She got up and quickly walked into the living room. And there she was, the TARDIS. As blue as ever. The last time she had met the Doctor, he told her he had found Gallifrey, and that he was going to stop travelling. Clara didn't have the heart to tell the Doctor that Danny hadn't come back to her then, and that what she really wanted to do was go with him. To go with the Doctor and travel with him forever, see so much and do so many things that she didn't have to think about Danny again. Maybe he had changed his mind? Maybe he had come back for her, maybe he had figured out that she was lying.

The doors to the TARDIS opened, but no one came out. Clara wiped her cheeks quickly, to make it less obvious that she had been crying, although she was sure her eyes were bloodshot.

"Where are we?" someone said inside the TARDIS. It was a young woman's voice.

"I'm not entirely sure", Clara could hear the Doctor reply. "Either somewhere in the Kawlana sphere, or the deep in the Gamma forests. It's anyone's guess really." A woman said: "Well, then, let's have a look!"

Clara heard someone running towards her, and braced herself. Out of the TARDIS came two young women, girls really, they couldn't be more than 15 or 16 years old. One had slightly darker skin than the other, but they looked quite similar. They were talking and laughing, but as soon as they saw Clara, their faces went blank. They let go of each other's hands and stopped dead in their tracks.

"Girls? Where are we? I know you've done Kawlana before, but you really didn't get to see much the last time, you know..." The Doctor had also come out of his box and seen Clara. His face was the perfect mirror of the two girls.

"Well, well, Doctor. Your companions are getting younger, aren't they?" Clara said with a strained smile, trying to not sound disappointed. "It's only been a couple of months since I saw you last, Doctor. I didn't think I'd see you again", Clara could hear her voice catch and coughed, hoping to hide that she was about to cry. She should have known that he would find others to travel with. What made her think she was so special?

"Eh, girls, please step back into the TARDIS, I have to... eh, speak with this woman alone". One of the girls, the darker skinned one, turned around and walked right back into the blue box. The other stayed put, staring unashamedly at Clara.

"Ellie, come in here right now!" The girl in the TARDIS shouted. Ellie, however, didn't appear to listen, as she stepped closer to Clara. The girl stopped right in front of her, and seemed to be studying her face intensely. Clara jumped a little when suddenly the girl had placed her left hand on Clara's cheek.

"You are so beautiful", the girl said. "Ehrm, thank you. I guess", Clara said, and to her surprise the girl, Ellie had tears in her eyes. "That's enough of that", the Doctor said, grabbed Ellie by her hands and pushed her back into the TARDIS and closed the doors.

"Doctor, who was that? It almost seemed like she knew me", Clara said, still a little shocked that the Doctor was even here.

"That's not important", the Doctor said. "I'm sorry to arrive unannounced Clara, obviously I didn't mean to come here, I was actually aiming for the vast planes of Poosh. That's a moon that I've always wanted to go to. But my TARDIS seems to be working against me, and brought me here." The Doctor was looking everywhere other than at Clara.

"How long has it been for you?" Clara asked softly. He didn't look much older. The Doctor seemed to be thinking hard.

"Oh, you know. Just two years, three months and a couple of days. Give or take." He was still not looking at Clara, but appeared to be very interested in a box of paper clips on her desk. Clara cleared her throat: "I thought you'd given up travelling. That you were going to settle down on Gallifrey."

"Oh yes, well that was actually a clever lie I told you."

"Clever?" Clara said. "Why was it clever?" She was getting a bit cross now actually. Why did he have to lie to her? Didn't she deserve to not be lied to?

"Well, I didn't want you to feel as though you had to keep travelling with me, just because Missy lied about Gallifrey. It wasn't there." The Doctor finally looked at Clara, looked her right in the eye. "I wanted you to be happy with... Danny", the Doctor said hesitantly, looking away again.

Clara could feel tears burning behind her eyes at the mention of Danny's name. "Well, I lied too, Doctor. Danny didn't come back. He chose to not come back to me." She felt a single tear roll down her cheek. "So I guess we're both great big liars, aren't we Doctor. Two old liars so afraid of the truth."

"Yes..." The Doctor said. "I suppose we are". They looked at each other, and then Clara threw her arms around the Doctor.

"Oh, it's good to see you again Doctor. I've actually missed you." She could feel the Doctor place his arms around her, properly hugging her. It was quite the feat, he wasn't one for hugging.

"I've... missed you too", the Doctor said.

"So", Clara said, letting the Doctor go. "Are they travelling with you now? Those two girls?" The Doctor hesitated and didn't seem to want to answer the question.

"Yes, sometimes. I... owe them... so I occasionally take them on short trips." The Doctor looked uncomfortable discussing the subject.

"That girl, Ellie. She did seem to know me, Doctor. Is there something I should know?" Clara studied the Doctor's face, trying to read it. "And please don't lie to me, Doctor. I think we both deserve to hear the truth from each other from now on."

The Doctor looked down at Clara, and appeared to be considering her statement. "I'm... sorry, Clara. I can't tell you. It's... timey wimey stuff, really." The Doctor looked genuinely sorry. "Well, I think we better get on", he continued. He gave Clara a quick smile, and turned around to get back into his TARDIS.

"What, that's it?" Clara said, her voice trembling. "You just show up out of nowhere, leave me with more questions than I had when you got here. And you won't even take me with you?" The last question was said with such disappointment and sadness that the Doctor halted. He turned on the spot and looked right into Clara's eyes.

"Not this time, my Clara." His voice was also filled with sadness.

"Will I see you again?" Clara asked, still with tears in her eyes. "I will, won't I?" The Doctor took a deep breath, and said:

"I really don't know Clara. But I'll see you later, yes?" With that he turned back and opened the TARDIS doors, walked inside and closed the doors behind him. Clara stood frozen, unable to think. What was she to do? No Danny, no Doctor. She had genuinely thought for a second that he had come to take her with him. To see the stars, again.

All of a sudden, the TARDIS doors burst open, and the girl, Ellie, came running out. She threw herself around Clara, and appeared to be crying. Clara closed her arms around the girl in response.

"I miss you so much", the girl whispered in Clara's ear.

"Ellie, come back here right now, or so help me I will rip up all your books!" the other girl from just inside the TARDIS yelled. Ellie let go of Clara and walked quickly into the TARDIS. The other girl stood for a while in the opening and then she slammed the doors shut. Clara could swear that she'd seen the faintest of smiles on the girl's face. The familiar sound started up, and within seconds the blue box was gone. Once again she was left alone with her thoughts, no Danny, no Doctor. No stars to visit. She took a deep breath, went into the kitchen and started to pick up the pieces of broken china.

Later that night, as Clara was getting ready for bed, something fell out of her cardigan pocket as she was taking it off. She bent down and picked up what looked like a locket. It appeared to be solid gold, in the shape of a heart. It had lovely engravings on the front. Clara opened it, and immediately sat down, right on the floor. Inside the locket, there was a tiny picture, but she could well enough make out who it was. It was Clara. Possibly a bit older, and a bit blurry, but it was definitely her. And in her lap was a little girl, about 5 or 6 years old. Opposite the picture there were words engraved. They read:

"My darling Ellie

I will always love you,

Mum."


	2. Chapter 2

Clara was pacing. Two weeks it had been since the Doctor suddenly popped back into her life, and then left it a complete mess. The locket was clenched in her hand, as it almost always had been since she found it. Either in her hand or around her neck, with Clara constantly playing with it. She kept picturing the girl, Ellie. Her mother's name. And... her daughter's? She couldn't believe it. She tried to remember what the girl looked like. Brown hair, brown eyes. She probably looked like Clara, but that wasn't exactly what she was thinking of when they'd met. Clara hadn't cried since that day, she just felt numb all over. If that girl was her daughter, she travelled with the Doctor as well. But why wasn't Clara with her? And why did she cry when she saw her, and why did she tell Clara that she missed her? There were so many questions floating around in Clara's head, and she knew that there was only one person who could answer them. She dialled the Doctor's number for the thousandth time as she was pacing the living room floor. Biting her thumb, with the locket still clenched in her fist, she walked back and forth with the phone to her ear. She had dialled that number over and over the last two weeks, and he never picked up. It did go to his voice mail once, but Clara knew that he didn't even really know he had one, let alone how to use it. After letting it ring for several minutes, Clara hung up. She threw her phone on the sofa, and kept pacing. She wasn't cross, or sad or anything. She was just numb. Her face void of any emotion, eyes dry as bone. Clara sat down and opened the locket. She had spent so much time staring at it, but it still got her every time she read the engraving and saw the picture. The picture of herself and a little girl, apparently her daughter. Clara let her finger brush over the picture, and she found herself smiling. A daughter. That means that life does go on. The Clara in the picture looks so happy, and so does Ellie.

That sound. Clara looked up and saw the blue box materializing right in front of her. Her heart made a leap. She quickly closed the locket and placed it around her neck. She stood up and walked up to the doors. She raised her hand, hesitated a little, and then knocked quietly three times. The doors opened, and Clara walked inside.

The Doctor stood by the control panel, hands behind his back, eyes looking directly at her. Clara approached him slowly, a million questions running through her mind, not knowing which one she should ask first. She reached the control panel, and with her left hand on the panel she started walking around it.

"It's good to see you, Clara." The Doctor didn't move.

"Yeah", Clara replied. "How long has it been this time, Doctor?" she said, with a hint of malice in her voice. "How long since you saw me last, and left me a complete mess?"

"That's not the question", the Doctor said. "The question is, where's the locket?"

Clara had reached the place where the Doctor stood. She looked up at him, trying to convey how she felt, even though she wasn't entirely sure herself. She reached around her neck, and unfastened the chain that the locket hung on. She reluctantly handed him the locket.

"Thank you, Clara", the Doctor said, placing the locket in the inside pocket of his coat. "You were never meant to see that. Ellie is... sometimes hard to control."

"Who is she, Doctor? Is she my daughter?" The Doctor looked down at Clara, and saw those big brown eyes were full of hurt.

"Don't do that with your eyes, seriously, they're like saucers", he said as he started scrambling around the control panel, pushing buttons and pulling levers.

"Do not change the subject, Doctor, not his time. This is far too important to me. Who is she?" Clara's voice was getting louder.

"Do you want to go somewhere spectacular? There's a planet where the flowers bloom all at once, and then they change colour! At the same time! And it's scheduled to happen", the Doctor peeked at his watch, "quite soon", he said as he pushed a button and Clara could hear the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing.

"WHO IS SHE? YOU WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION OR SO HELP ME I WILL... BE VERY CROSS!" Clara shouted as loud as she could, and it had quite an effect on the Doctor. He stopped fidgeting with the controls, looked down and sighed.

"Clara..." he said. "Ellie is... your daughter." Clara walked backward until she hit a chair and sat down, hands on knees, and looking at the floor.

"I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to find out. Those girls, they'll be the death of me. I mean, Dani, she's alright; she actually listens to me when I say something. But Ellie, oh, she has got far too much of you in her to be able to listen to what I say."

Clara's head snapped up. "The girls? What do you mean?" The Doctor's face changed all of a sudden, his eyebrows seemingly trying to meet up with his hairline, and his mouth fell open.

"Ah, well, yes, what I meant was, that, ah..." He was obviously trying to think of something clever.

Clara stood up, staring the Doctor down. "Dani and Ellie? Are they both mine?" She walked towards the Doctor. "Dani? As in my Danny? And Ellie was my mother's name."

"Daniela actually", the Doctor said. "You did name her after her father." With that the doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pointed it at Clara and then turned the screen towards her. Clara pulled her eyes away from the Doctor to look at the screen. It showed a miniature version of her turning slowly, and it said:

NAME: CLARA OSWALD

SPECIES: HUMAN

AGE: APPROX. 28

STATUS: PREGNANT/14 WEEKS

Clara stood there for a long time. The Doctor looked at her, not daring to speak until she did. Clara let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, then she started to hyperventilate.

"Okay, okay, let's get you seated", the Doctor said, gently leading Clara back to the chair she had just been sitting in.

"Doctor!" Clara was sobbing now. "Doctor, that can't be right! I'm not pregnant _now_! I would know!"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you mind has been preoccupied with other thoughts lately."

"Oh my God, a baby. Two babies! What am I going to do, Doctor? And Danny... " Clara started full on wailing, head in her hands.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, they are both wonderful kids. As I said, the younger one doesn't really listen to me, but still." The Doctor said with a smile. Clara looked up at him.

"Why do they travel with you, Doctor? Why aren't I with them?" Once again Clara's eyes were so full of hurt and sadness, the Doctor had to look away.

"Ah, _that_, Clara, is not something that I can tell you. No, no point in arguing", the Doctor said quickly when Clara tried to object.

"What I _can_ tell you is this. Dani and Ellie are perfectly healthy, brilliant girls. They are three years apart, but they are like two peas in a pod, really. You hardly ever see one without the other. They take care of each other."

Clara looked at the Doctor and seemed satisfied with what he had just said. "But, Doctor... This means that I find someone new, doesn't it? Because Danny can't be Ellie's father, can he?"

"Well, yes, I suppose it does mean that", the Doctor said. "But I really can't say anything more about it."

Clara nodded, wiped her eyes and stood up. "Doctor, will you take me home? I know you wanted to show me the flower thingies, but I really think I should get home." The Doctor smiled and pressed a few buttons on the control panel.

"Oh, there is no planet with colour changing flowers, I lied to try and get you to shut up. Although, that would be brilliant wouldn't it? Maybe I'll go and see if I can find one", he said just as they heard that familiar sound of the TARDIS landing.

"Thank you, Doctor", Clara said as she left the blue box. "I know that meddling with time is dangerous, and that you worry about interfering with the future. But I won't do anything to jeopardize the lives of those two girls. I promise."

"I know, Clara", the Doctor said. "Be safe, love your girls. I'll see you later." Clara looked back at the Doctor, and she thought she saw immense sadness in his eyes, though he tried to hide it with a smile. She smiled back at him, a genuine, happy smile, the kind she hadn't given anyone for a long time.

"I'll see you later, Doctor", she said, and then the doors slammed shut and the TARDIS dematerialized.

Clara looked down, and gently placed a palm over her stomach.


End file.
